BIZ BUZZ BLOG: Tupelo airport tower on closure list

The Federal Aviation Administration spared a few air traffic control towers, but Tupelo was not among them.
On Friday, the agency said 149 contract towers would be closed starting April 7.
The sequestration cuts call for more than $600 million in cuts the FAA must implement by Sept. 30.
Last month, the agency put out an initial list of 173 towers that would lose FAA funding.
On Friday, the agency announced 24 would be spared, at least for now, citing their “national interest” affects.
Josh Abramson, executive director of Tupelo Regional Airport, has been in Washington, D.C., to try to lobby officials to keep funding for the Tupelo tower.
The contracting company is paid more than $500,000 annually by the FAA to staff the Tupelo tower. Nationwide, the FAA contracts tower services to 251 airports.
Likely the only way to keep the tower operating in Tupelo is for the city itself to fund it.
However, Abramson said it’s not likely.